The present invention relates to a device for changing tools, pick-ups, welding torches, and other implements that can be handled by industrial robots. It represents an interface between the implement and the flange of the robot.
Such an implement-changing device consists of two parts that become an upper and a lower part when the device is opened. The upper part remains on the robot and the lower part is replaced, with the original going into a bin associated with the device. The aforementioned implements, the pick-ups etc, are mounted on the lower parts.
Various types of devices for changing tools in industrial robots are known. They work in accordance with various tensioning principles and are frequently designed to function only in special applications. Since they allow only very specific operations with respect to the transmission of power and signals they can not be extended in relation to electrical plugs, compressed-air transmission elements, etc. as desired without expensive mechanical modifications and they also require that the robot itself connect the elements that transmit the power and signals itself as a result of its own motion during the closure process. This demands precise and time-consuming programming to obtain a robot that can apply the necessary force without giving way significantly as well as very accurate centering of the part to be picked up from a storage container. Furthermore, it is impossible to ensure reliable opening of the implement-changing device by separating the upper and lower parts without considerable expense, which is incurred either by an additional operating element like a spring, a compressed-air cylinder, etc. or by securing the lower part of the device in the bin.